The Putnam Hall Rivals

The trail left the brook a little further on, and then they came to a point where the way was uncertain.

“Go slow now,” cautioned the young major. “We don’t want to become tangled up if we can possibly avoid it.”

“Here seems to be a cleared spot,” said Pepper, gazing around. “I wonder if there was once a farm here?”

“If there was it must have been abandoned years ago,” answered Andy. “To me it’s a perfect wilderness.”

They started to go on, when suddenly Andy sank down in the soil a distance of about two feet.

“Help!” he yelled, and scrambled out of the hole as quickly as he could.

“Humph! I wonder if that is another cave?” muttered Jack.

“I didn’t seem to touch bottom,” answered the acrobatic youth.

“Let us examine it, just for fun,” said Pepper, and walked back before the others could stop him. He picked up a dead tree-branch and poked it into the hole.

“I can’t touch bottom,” he declared.

“You had better come away before you fall in,” said Jack.

“Do you know what I think?” went on the Imp. “I think it is an old well.”

“A well? out here?” came from Andy, with a skeptical look.

“Look for yourself.”

Both of the others were now interested, and made an examination.

“It certainly is a well, and the top had been choked up most likely for years,” declared the young major.

“I’ll stick a tree-limb in the hole,” said Pepper. “That will prevent somebody else from going down into it.”

This was done, and they started to go ahead once more. They had covered only fifty feet when Jack suddenly came to a halt as if electrified.

“Well, I never!” he gasped, after a look ahead and then a look behind.

“What’s up now?” asked Andy and Pepper, in a breath.

“Do you remember Mr. Strong’s story about that hidden pot of gold?”

“Certainly,” said Andy.

“You don’t mean – ” began Pepper.

“Don’t you remember that his great-grandfather left a letter, stating the pot of gold was hidden under the tree that had the stone in its roots, – the tree that stood twenty paces north cf the old well?”

“Yes.”

“Well, yonder is the old well, and here is the stone, about twenty paces north of it. The tree blew down years ago, but here is a part of the stump.”

“And do you think the pot of gold is there?” almost shouted Pepper.

“That remains to be found out,” answered Jack.

CHAPTER XXX

SOMETHING OF A FIND – CONCLUSION

The discovery which Jack had made filled all three of the cadets with excitement, and they gazed at the rock and tree-root in wonder and expectation.

“Oh, I hope the pot of gold is really there!” cried Andy.

“We’ll have to dig for it,” returned Pepper. “Come on! I wish I had a spade.”

“So do I.”

“We’ll have to use our knives and some sticks,” put in the young major. “And our hands too.”

They were soon digging away at the foot of the rock. Then they pulled away some of the rotten tree-roots that were near.

“Look out, there is a snake!” ejaculated Andy, a moment later. But the reptile was small and harmless, and quickly got out of sight in the bushes.

“I wonder if there are any more around,” ventured Jack. He did not like snakes in the least.

“We’ll have to keep our eyes open,” answered Pepper.

Once more they made the dirt fly, loosening it with their knives and some sharp-pointed sticks, and scooping it away with their hands. They did not mind getting dirty – all their thoughts were on uncovering the pot of gold, if it was really there.

“This doesn’t look like anything,” grumbled Andy, after they had been digging the best part of half an hour.

“Do you want to give up?” questioned Jack, quickly.

“Not yet.”

“Here is a flat stone,” said Pepper. “It is quite large, too. We will have some trouble getting it up.”

“Perhaps it is placed directly over the pot of gold,” said Andy.

They worked all around the flat stone and then pried up one end with a heavy stick. Pepper placed his hand beneath.

“There is something under it,” he announced. “Feels like an iron pot!”

“Let us get that stone up!” cried Jack.

They tugged and strained with might and main, and at last the flat rock came up out of the hole. Beneath was the cover to an old rusty pot and beneath this the pot itself, resting in a bed of dirt and small stones.

“Hurrah! here it is!” cried Andy. “Bring it up, Jack!”

It was no easy matter to bring up the iron pot, which was heavy, but at last they had it out on the grass. The lid was rusted fast, but they speedily pried it off.

“Empty!” ejaculated Pepper, looking into the receptacle, and his face fell.

“All our work for nothing,” murmured Andy.

“No, it is not empty,” said Jack. “That is an iron plate resting near the bottom. Wait till I pry it up with my knife blade.”

He set to work, and soon the iron plate came up. Beneath lay some dull yellow round pieces of metal.

“Gold!” shouted the young major. “Old English and Spanish gold!”

“Are you sure it is gold?” queried Pepper.

“Yes. Look for yourself,” and Jack brushed off one of the pieces on his coat-sleeve. “Boys, we’re in luck! We have certainly found the pot with gold in it that Mr. Strong has been looking for so long!”

“Not very much gold,” said Andy. “I thought there would be a pot full.”

“It doesn’t take much gold to make quite a sum, Andy. You know a ten-dollar gold piece isn’t very large.”

“That is true.”

The boys inspected the pieces with interest and counted them up. All told there were four hundred and twenty-three pieces, some large and some small, English, French, and Spanish gold, as they made out by some of the tarnished markings.

“Let us take the pot and all along,” said Pepper. “Mr. Strong will wish to see the whole thing.”

“And let us mark this place, so we can find it again,” added Andy.

They hung the pot with its contents on a stout stick, and two carried it at a time. Having marked the neighborhood, they set off along the trail, and after a rather tedious walk reached the highway running into Cedarville.

“I know where we are now,” said Jack. “We needn’t go all the way to Cedarville. We can branch off a little way below here and go directly to Putnam Hall.”

They followed his advice, and half an hour later, just as the sun was setting, came in sight of the school. They were soon seen, and a shout went up.

“There are Jack, Andy, and Pepper now!”

“Did you get hurt on your balloon trip?”

“Where did you leave the balloon?”

“We were afraid you were all killed.”

Such were some of the remarks and questions uttered by those who had returned to the Hall after the departure of the balloon with the boys.

“We are safe and sound,” said Jack, speaking for himself and his chums.

“What have you got there?” asked Dale.

“Something for Mr. Strong,” whispered Pepper. “Where is he?”

“In the Hall. Captain Putnam is out hunting for you. He said if you were found, to fire the cannon.”

“All right, then fire it,” said Andy.

The three boys marched into the Hall with their precious burden. They were told that Mr. Strong had gone to his room, and so followed up the stairs and knocked on the door.

“What! back, safe and sound!” cried the teacher. “I am more than glad to hear it.”

“We are glad to be back,” answered Jack.

“But what made you run off?”

“We didn’t run off. We were carried off against our will.”

“Well! well! I suppose – What is that thing?”

“This, Mr. Strong, is something we suspect belongs to you,” said Jack, proudly. “It is the missing pot of gold – only it isn’t full by any means.”

“The pot of gold? Surely I must be dreaming!” gasped the teacher. “Where did you get it?”

Their tale was speedily told in detail, and the gold was examined with much interest.

“It must be true,” said George Strong. “What an extraordinary ending to an extraordinary adventure!”

Just then the cannon on the campus boomed out – the signal that the boys had returned to Putnam Hall.

The shot soon brought Captain Putnam back to the school, and he listened to the cadets’ story with as close attention as had George Strong. He had already heard from Dale, Stuffer, Hogan, and Joe Nelson how the balloon had started away, and so could not blame the boys very much.

“It was imprudent for you to get into the basket,” said he. “But as nobody was hurt, we will let it pass. But the balloonist wants his balloon back.”

“He can have it, and welcome,” said Jack. “After this I’ll do my ballooning on the ground!”

“Ditto here,” said Pepper.

“I rather enjoyed it,” said Andy. “I’d go again – if I got the chance.”

“Not while you are a pupil under my care,” said Captain Putnam, decidedly.

On the following day the balloon was located by those who owned it and brought over to Cedarville, and on Monday the professor gave an exhibition to which Captain Putnam and his pupils contributed liberally. This satisfied Professor Aireo and he departed for parts unknown, and that ended the matter.

As soon as possible George Strong found out the value of the coins the iron pot had contained, and had the boys take him to the spot where the treasure had been located.

“The gold is worth exactly six thousand and two hundred dollars,” said the teacher. “I shall divide it up with my relatives. The question is, What part of the sum do you think you ought to have for finding it?”

“We’ll leave that to you?” said Andy, who was not overly rich.

“Would a hundred dollars each suit you?”

“That suits me,” said the acrobatic youth, and Jack and Pepper said they were also satisfied. Later on each got the amount mentioned.

“Have you located those crazy men yet?” asked Jack.

“In a way, yes. They took a boat to Ithaca, and then a train for the north. Perhaps they have left the neighborhood for good.” But in this statement George Strong was mistaken, as later events proved.

The balloon adventure made Andy, Jack, and Pepper the heroes of the Hall for the time being.

“We’ll never have another adventure as thrilling as that,” said Pepper, but he was mistaken; they did have an adventure equally thrilling, and what it was I shall relate in another volume of this series, to be called “The Putnam Hall Champions; or, Bound to Win Out.” In that volume we shall meet all our friends once more, and likewise some of their enemies, and learn the particulars of a victory which led to a most unlooked-for discovery.

Summer was now at hand, and one bright Saturday the boys had a regular field-day, with a big spread afterwards. Jack, Andy, Pepper, and the others did very well, winning several prizes. Harry Blossom made a neat speech, and then all sat down to a meal which made Stuffer Singleton’s eyes fairly glisten.

“This day is the limit!” cried Andy, while the eating was going on. “I was never so happy in my life before.”

“I don’t think any schoolboys could be happier than we are,” said Jack. “Especially with old Crabtree gone.”

“Drop Crabtree,” sang out Dale. “He will come back all too soon, don’t fear!”

“Here comes Captain Putnam!” announced Pepper. “Let us give him a cheer.”

All agreed, and the cheer went echoing across the lake and the hills far and wide, and with that cheer let us take our departure.

THE END